1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mobile payments, and more specifically to installing and operating a payment application on a mobile phone.
2. Related Art
Mobile or cellular phones can be adapted to be used as payment devices to pay for the purchase of goods and services. As an example, mobile phones can incorporate the express-pay technology found, for instance, in some credit or debit cards, wherein a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip containing a small microcontroller and metal antenna is embedded in the plastic of the card and replaces the traditional authenticating function of a magnetic stripe bearing cardholder information.
A mobile phone user who has a transaction account such as an American Express®, Visa®, MasterCard®, or Discover® account can adapt the phone for use as a payment device in one of several ways currently in development.
For example, the user can visit a secure website in order to request that a payment application and personal account information be transmitted to the user's mobile phone. In this method, the user might provide his or her transaction account number, the telephone number of the user's mobile phone, and verification information (such as personal information or a password) at a computer connected to the Internet. When the provider of the transaction account receives the user's information over the Internet, the provider verifies the information and preferably associates the user's transaction account number with the telephone phone of the user's mobile phone.
Alternatively, the mobile phone user can call a customer service representative of the provider of the transaction account in order to request that a payment application and personal account information be transmitted to the user's mobile phone. In this method, all of the information necessary to complete the request is provided by the user over the telephone.
A third option is for the mobile phone user to fill out a paper form with all of the information associated with a request that a payment application and personal account information be transmitted to the user's mobile phone. The completed paper form is then mailed or personally delivered by the user to the provider of the transaction account.
In each case, after the provider verifies the received information and preferably associates the user's transaction account number with the telephone number of the user's mobile phone, the user is able to download a payment application to the mobile phone and to use the mobile phone as a payment device.
Typical downloading methods can be used, such as by plugging the mobile phone into a computer in which the necessary software has been stored, or which can provide a conduit to an Internet site at which the software is located.
There is room for improvement in the development of methods for converting a mobile phone for use as a payment device. For instance, there are possible difficulties in not being unable to locate or access a computer with an online connection, the time required to download software first to a computer and then from the computer to a mobile phone, the time delay associated with mailing and processing of a paper request form, and the inconvenience of having to travel to an office of the provider in order to deliver a paper request form. As well, secure personalization of a payment application via an online connection to a host server can be unreliable as a method of downloading necessary data since the connection may drop at any time.
Accordingly, there is a need for fast and reliable way to securely personalize a payment application using a mobile phone in a manner that does not require the establishment of an online connection in order to achieve successful downloads.